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What Is The Crown of Life in Scripture? Winning the Race of Life

January 30, 2022 Speaker: Pastor Scott Slaughter Series: FAITH THAT WORKS!, The Epistle of James

Topic: Faith, Saving Faith, Effectual Calling, False Faith, Curiosity, Discipleship, God's Will, Obedience to God, God, Sovereignty, Power, Person, Holiness, Love , Heaven, Eternal Life Scripture: James 1:12

This verse picks the topic of trials of faith once again from verses 2-7. Earlier we were encouraged to consider our sufferings to be an occasion for spiritual joy because we know that God is using them to perfect our faith. We are given another reason to do as we consider the crown of life. In an almost proverbial way verse 12 teaches us that because we have been born again by grace we will, with endurance, run the race of life with its trials and temptations and will, at life’s end, receive the crown of eternal life. James here views life as a race, as it were, which requires great discipline and much struggle but after being tried in such a way, the believer’s faith in Christ has proven to be the genuine article. Verse 12, we might say, is a precursor to the “faith without works” discussion in chapter 2. Anyone may enter a race and some may run for some distance but only those upheld by genuine Spirit-given faith will have enduring and working faith. In other words, the test of genuine salvation is not a profession card but a life lived by faith in obedience to Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures. For this reason, believers rejoice in afflictions and hardships knowing that after running the race of life they will be crowned with eternal life. 

Over the years verse 12 has been a difficult passage for biblical interpreters. The interpretation one gives to questions such as the meaning of “the crown of life” and under exactly what conditions may a believer be given it can radically change the message being communicated by the text itself. Today, as we mine the great and comforting truths that are to be found here, we will consider three doctrinal realities that must guide our understanding. Then, we will apply the resulting interpretation of this portion of Scripture to the race of life in which we find ourselves.